Roundup: At least 80 killed as powerful earthquake jolts northern Pakistan-Afghanistan border

At least 80 people were killed and over 500 others injured when a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake rocked the northern parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan on Monday.

The strong temblor, which occurred at 0909 GMT, was centered Alaqahdari-ye Kiran wa Munjan in northern Afghanistan, 250 km northeast of the Afghan capital Kabul with a depth of 212.5 km.

The U.S. Geological Survey initially measured the quake at 7.7 magnitude, but later revised it down to 7.5 magnitude.

Pakistan's northwestern tribal regions and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province were the worst-hit areas, where over 50 people were killed and many buildings collapsed.

Asad Qaisar, speaker of the provincial assembly of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, said 150 people have been shifted to hospitals in the provincial capital of Peshawar.

The injured people at hospitals in Peshawar were brought from the outskirts of the city and most of them got fractures in their limbs.

Pervez Khattak, chief minister of the Khyber Pakhtunkwa, said the death toll was feared to rise as the far flung areas could not be accessed yet due to the disruption of road network and lack of proper communication facilities.

"I saw the building collapse, but before I could get away from it the bricks hit me. One of my colleagues also got buried under the rubble who was later shifted to hospital," an injured man said.

A total of 10 people, including two school kids, were killed when the strong tremors hit the eastern Punjab province.

At least four people were killed in the country's northern Kohistan district and two in the northeastern Kashmir region, local media reported.

The quake also jolted the country's capital Islamabad where eight people were injured and walls of some of the houses of collapsed.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif directed the concerned officials to provide relief to the affected people.

A crisis management cell has been formed on the directives of the prime minister to meset the emergency situation in the worst-hit areas.

In northern Afghanistan, at least 18 people have been confirmed dead and more than 100 injured in the earthquake, according to local authorities.

"Five bodies of earthquake victims and 65 injured persons have been taken to hospital so far in Nangarhar's provincial capital Jalalabad city," Najibullah Kamawal, head of Nangarhar provincial health department, told Xinhua.

He also said the death toll could further rise.

"Twelve students of Bibi Hajira girl school lost their lives as part of the school building destroyed due to the quake in Takhar province," spokesman for the Takhar provincial government Sunatullah Timor said.

He also added that 40 injured people from across the province have been taken to hospital in the provincial capital of Taluqan.

According to preliminary reports collected from different districts of Badakhshan province, one person has been confirmed dead and 86 houses destroyed.

Meantime, locals in Baghlan, Takhar, Jauzjan, Kunduz and Badakhshan provinces said scores of people sustained injuries and several houses have been destroyed and damaged.

The epicenter is a few hundred kilometres from a 7.6- magnitude quake, which struck in October 2005 and killed more than 75,000 people.

The quake at the Afghan-Pakistan border area was also strongly felt in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Monday.

The quake has caused huge damage to property across the Kashmir Valley although there were no reports of casualties so far, said Indo-Asian News Service.

Cracks appeared in most multi-story public and private buildings and a flyover in Srinagar, while major damage was reported to dozens of government and private buildings in Badgam, Anantnag, Baramulla, Pulwama, Kulgam, Kupwara, Bandipora and Ganderbal districts, said the report.

Panicked people rushed out of their houses to open spaces.

"It was a massive earthquake and I thought everything will collapse," Muddasir Ahmad, a local Kashmiri told Xinhua. "The ground was shaking and for a moment I thought houses will fall down and people around me were shouting and praying in chaos." Enditem